


Weightless

by SharkbaitSekki



Series: FFXV Kink Meme Fills [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Daemon-hunter Iris, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kink Meme, World of Ruin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 02:58:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11477199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkbaitSekki/pseuds/SharkbaitSekki
Summary: She was his little sister, bright, innocent, carefree.He was her older brother, strong, fearless, headstrong.The Eternal Night tore them both down all the same.





	Weightless

**Author's Note:**

> Sibling angst is my heroin and I'm a motherfucking addict. Mini-fill for [this kink meme prompt](https://ffxv-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/3016.html?thread=2061512#cmt2061512) because I would also die for Gladiolus and Iris Amicitia in a heartbeat.

Gladio hasn't seen her in weeks, and when he finally does, she looks smaller than ever.   
  
Objectively, that isn't true. Iris Amicitia is cut from the same cloth as every other Shield of the King. Three long years of darkness have shaped her into a fierce, strong, imposing young woman, and Gladio can see that she has matured and refined in every line of her tired face and every scar marring her delicate skin.   
  
She isn't delicate, far from it, but damn it all, she is Gladio's little sister, and it kills him to see her have to be anything but.   
  
"The supply route is cut off from the east, though," Gladio hears her argue when he approaches her near the campfire, watching the other few hunters at her side drink in her every word. "Either we go around the blockade, or we fight our way through."  
  
"The daemon population of the area is unconfirmed, Amicitia," one of the hunters, older, more experienced, counters. He crosses his arms, and Gladio only stops frowning when he continues his sentence. "What do you suggest?"  
  
"We can send a runner," Iris answered, glancing at her companions. "And if nobody is up for it, I can go. Just a sweep of the blockade, to get some numbers. After that, we can choose whether we stand our ground or go around."  
  
"Like your scrawny ass could fight off anything bigger than a Goblin," Gladio can't help but tease when he is close enough, and he enjoys the look of annoyance that crosses Iris' eyes when she turns, right before it gives way to immense relief.   
  
"Gladdy!" she exclaims, jumping from her seated position. Gladio braces himself for her usual, energetic hug, but this time, it doesn't come. Iris stands in her place, and Gladio's heart sinks as the innocent elation drains out of her expression. It is replaced by a soft, sad smile, as if she knows that she is breaking Gladio's heart with every passing second. "Man, you look terrible. You should speak for yourself."  
  
"Is that the right way to great your older brother after all this time?" Gladio taunts her, eager for a response, but she doesn't bite. Instead, she sits down, as if too exhausted to keep standing.   
  
"We'll catch up later, Gladdy, okay?" she simply suggests, looking pained with her own decision. "I really need to finish this meeting first. It's really important."  
  
Gladio wants to remind her that once upon a time, nothing had been more important to Iris than himself.   
  
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, one that many people had already begun to forget.   
  
Gladio's heart is too heavy for him to respond. Iris has already returned to her strategy meeting with the hunters, not wasting a single second. Gladio is left standing there, feeling like an absolute fool.   
  
He doesn't say anything when he turns and leaves. He knows Iris is watching him go, even when her speech remains uninterrupted, but he can't bring himself to turn around. Instead, he makes his way to the cluster of tents pitched at the heart of Meldacio HQ, knowing that Iris would follow later, when she was ready to take a breather from the burdens this forsaken world had placed on her young shoulders.   
  


...-...-...-...-...-...-...

  
  
And Iris did follow, an hour later only, finding her way back to her beloved elder brother by another fire like a ship gravitates to a lighthouse. When she arrives, sitting on the dirt next to Gladio, she finally leans in, and embraces him. He squeezes her tight, imprinting into his memory the feeling of her smaller frame in his arms.   
  
She is tiny in Gladio's eyes, still the same baby she was when times were still alright, and Gladio doesn't want to acknowledge that perhaps she has grown up too fast. There are bags under her eyes, and a pale tint to her skin, and Gladio is overcome with the realization that he has failed her as well.   
  
"Sorry about earlier," she murmurs, leaning against him when they part. "We've been stuck here for a while, and our supply route is cut off from Lestallum by some daemons. We've got a few refugees we need to ship off to Holly and the other girls, but the road is blocked and our stocks are running low."  
  
"I meant what I said," Gladio sighs heavily. "Don't take on those daemons. Try to find a way around."  
  
"It'll depend on what type of daemons they are, and how many," Iris explains in the same tone she had been using during her meeting earlier. It sounded nothing like her. "I'm going to go on recon after I sleep, and bring back some information to work with. The hunters would go, but nobody is fast on their feet like I am, so it's safer for me to go alone."  
  
"There is nothing safe about wandering out there alone," Gladio narrows his eyes critically. "You're already pushing it by staying in Meldacio's precarious setup of floodlights. Daemons hang out right outside the limits of the lights, waiting to tear you apart. There's no way you can go."  
  
"I can," Iris assures him, confident, scarily so. "I've done recon many times before. I'm good at it and I'm a very fast runner. Pretty good with some knives, too." She stops herself before she goes too far. Her expression falls. "I know you're worried, Gladdy, and I'm grateful for it, but... we don't have a choice anymore."  
  
Gladio's heart squeezes, so hard that it's actually painful. His breath hitches imperceptibly, his hands twitching, itching to reach out and pull her closer, hide her away from the horrors of the eternal night. He hates seeing her so quiet, so defeated. It's nothing like her. It's nothing like Iris Amicitia, his beloved little sister.   
  
"People are counting on me, Gladdy," she continues, quieter, like she knows she has lost. "Those refugees lost everything before we got to them. The mother lost two of her kids, and her third is infected with the Scourge. There's a young man whose only remaining family is holed up in Lestallum. There's a baby, Gladio, a goddamn infant-" she stops herself, her voice breaking, and she tries so desperately to compose herself, to stay strong, that Gladio doesn't recognize her anymore.   
  
There is a ghost sitting next to him, and Gladio realizes that he has already lost his sister as well.   
  
His hands quake when the pain in his chest increases, squeezing his heart and his lungs so tightly that he thinks he might be having a heart attack. His shoulders hunch in, over himself, as if he's trying to protect himself, but he's never felt so vulnerable. He's not quite sure what to do with his limbs, like they're foreign to him all of a sudden, and reflexively, his legs contract closer to him, and his arms drift inward, like he's closing up, shielding himself, cocooning, knowing that his efforts are futile. He can't speak. There is something in his throat that makes it difficult to breathe, and impossible to defend himself when Iris asks him if he's okay.   
  
He's not okay. There's worry in her eyes, a soft, concerned glint that is so painfully familiar in the expression of someone foreign, that he finally breaks.   
  
Gladio tries so hard not to sob, but he does, like he's choking and trying to breathe and nothing comes out but his stifled heartbreak. His hands tremble when he shoves them over his face, trying to stop -just stop!-, because he's the strong one, he's the older brother-  
  
-the older brother of a young woman he could not protect.   
  
"Gladdy," Iris murmurs softly, so empathetic to his inner struggle that it draws a cry from him. He can't look at her. He can't see her so hurt anymore, especially because of him. "Oh, Gladdy... I wish I could save you, too."  
  
He can't respond to her, wouldn't know what to say even if he could, and he numbly allows himself to drifts into her arms when she pulls him closer into a tender embrace. Her hands were rough with calluses but her hold remained steadfast as if always had, and Gladio basked momentarily in the familiarity of it. Iris holds him so tightly, Gladio begins to wonder if she isn't holding herself together as well, but when he finally pulls his hands away from his face, he notes that Iris' expression is set into a pained resolve.   
  
"You never should've-" His breath hitches again, tears wetting his cheeks in incessant rivulets. "Never have had to-"  
  
"I know," she interrupts him, understanding entirely. One of her hands takes Gladio's gently, and she raises his knuckles to press a soft kiss to the rough skin. "But I'm here now, and there's nowhere to go but forward."  
  
"My fault," Gladio stammers through the quiet sobs tearing their way through his aching throat. He can't stop his sorrow entirely, but he's doing his best to contain it. Iris' expression speaks volumes about how she can tell. "Couldn't save you from this."  
  
"You're wrong," Iris shakes her head, pulling him away just enough to lock gazes firmly with him. He believes her instantly, as he always had and always would. "It's not your fault at all. In fact, you've made me strong, and it's thanks to you that I'm still here." She draws him close again, and Gladio does not resist. "You're my hero, Gladio. Don't you ever think you couldn't save me, because I'm still here, and I'm still me."  
  
It was like she could read Gladio's insecurities without him having to articulate them, and Gladio was so, so grateful for his little sister at that moment. In the arms of the Iris he'd found, he felt safer than he had in ages, and allowed himself to grieve for the Iris he'd lost. At the end of the day, she was still his baby sister, and Gladiolus Amicitia would die for her in a heartbeat.   
  
"You're everything to me," he murmurs, finally wrapping his arms around her thin frame to reciprocate her wordless promise. He feels her grip tighten hard enough to blanch his skin, and he basks in the fact that despite losing everything, they still have one another.   
  
"That's why I'm here to stay," she murmurs right back, and for a split-second in time, Gladio almost feels weightless once more.   
  
Almost. 


End file.
